Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies

Bringing a war to life

Ross Webster uses art, music and veteran war stories to make Vietnam come alive for students in his Blake High class.

DOWNTOWN - For Ross Webster, teaching history - particularly about the Vietnam War - is more like a hobby than a job.

"It's a passion," said Webster, a teacher at Blake High School. "Ninety minutes doesn't seem long enough some days."

Webster, 37, brings the war to life through music, creative projects and guest speakers who lived the war firsthand. For his efforts, the Florida Council of Vietnam Veterans of America awarded Webster the 2005 Teacher of the Year Award. He will receive the award at a June 11 ceremony in Lake Worth.

It has been a banner year for Webster. His colleagues at Blake named him Teacher of the Year in March.

Five years ago, when he began teaching the elective course on Vietnam, Webster wondered how he would stretch out the war for nine weeks. Most wars get a day or two in American history, a course he has taught for eight years at Blake.

"Now I wonder how I'll fit it all in." he said.

Outside his third-floor classroom, students' artwork about Vietnam decorates the wall. A handmade travel brochure shows a bottle of rice wine next to the words: Come to Vietnam and leave a little more of a man.

Inside, images of Vietnam cover the walls. An orange glow of napalm explodes next to a frightened face in an art student's painting, a newspaper clipping shows Kim Phuc - the screaming, naked girl running in the famous photo - and a wall-sized map of Vietnam depicts the area.

During class, Webster holds students' interest with jokes and stories from his life.

"His anecdotes help you remember more," said junior Desaka Thornton, who took Webster's Vietnam class earlier this year.

Weekly visits from Vietnam veterans bring an emotional aspect to their study, "especially how Americans reacted when they came home," Desaka said. She remembered the story of one veteran who said a college professor called him a "baby killer" after he returned from the war.

"A lot of people hear about Vietnam, but they don't really know about it," she said.

Another speaker, veteran Jack Fairidey, told the story of how he stripped naked and ran for his life across a Vietnam field as a way to show the enemy he was unarmed, junior Bianca Brown said. During his two Vietnam tours, Fairidey was shot in the chest and head, earning him two Purple Hearts.

"We were all just ... speechless," Bianca said. "He didn't sugarcoat anything. Imagery-wise, you could just picture everything he said."

After each visit, the students discuss the soldier's job and what they would have done in the same situation. Then they grade each veteran on a scale of one to 10, with one meaning he's like an average neighbor and 10 being the craziest vet you've ever seen, Webster said.

"Often, they come in and talk about war so nonchalantly," Webster said. "Kids say, "I can't believe he just talked about how many people he killed just like he was getting a meatloaf sandwich."'

Webster, who lives in Valrico, never served in the military himself and has no relatives who fought in Vietnam. But many of his students have a grandfather or uncle who did.

"It's kind of an honor to teach about the war and continue their legacy," Webster said.

"Once a kid makes a connection with a veteran, that gives them a more human aspect. Then it becomes less of a class for them, which is really what I'm trying to get."

Last year, Webster created an interactive CD to introduce the Vietnam course to new teachers. He also added a reading requirement to his class. After reading a novel about Vietnam, students create cartoon storyboards, collages, paintings or videos.

The CD and student projects impressed the veterans committee, said Tom Hall, education committee chair for the Florida Council of Vietnam Veterans of America.

Hillsborough County schools began offering a Vietnam history class in 1998 at Bloomingdale High School. A workshop to expand the curriculum to other schools inspired Webster to teach it at Blake.

Now 12 schools across the county offer the course.

This summer, Webster will explain his techniques at a workshop to train new Vietnam history teachers.

"It's come full circle," he said.

Elisabeth Dyer can be reached at 226-3321 or edyer@sptimes.com

AGE: 37

JOB: History teacher at Blake High School

PREVIOUS JOB: Seventh-grade geography teacher at Franklin Middle School

FAMILY: Wife, Angela, teaches math at Tampa Bay Technical School; stepdaughters Brandi Garced, 15, and Hollie Garced, 12.

HOME: Valrico SCHOOLING: Brandon High School; bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of South Florida

READS: Vietnam War books so he can recommend good ones to students

SUMMERS: Crafts wood furniture

TACKLING: A contemporary history course at Blake in August that begins with the 1969 moon landing

ADMITS: He's a history geek.

AWARDS: Florida Council of Vietnam Veterans of America's 2005 Teacher of the Year and Blake High School's 2005 Teacher of the Year.